There are parts of Erica's appearance that she long since gave up trying to control: Her hair, thick and curly is at best kept back in a scrunchy with a number of strays escaping. Typically she keeps it styled somewhat short to keep it manageable with minimal maintenance. Her body grew taller as she aged, but never grew out of the lankiness of youth; her shapeless frame often covered with boyish clothing has lead to quite a few awkward introductions. With all the normal insecurities of a teenage girl, she does put in some effort into making herself more feminine. She often wears makeup, even if it's little more than dark shadow and a touch of blush.

Her wardrobe is mainly jeans; often too large and kept in place by a belt and work-shirts in various states of disrepair. While she's tried her hand at mending clothes there aren't very many pieces of clothing she owns that don't have stains, tears, or missing buttons. The money she doesn't spend on clothing goes the footwear; typically Erica can be found sporting a pair of sturdy, well-made, black leather work-boots, and while perhaps well-worn remain in decent condition.

Erica isn't an easily person for most people to get a long with at first. Really all she wants in honestly and directness, but her unfriendly deminor complete with sarcasm and insults make an initial hurtle to get past. She doesn't participate in highschool gossip, but doesn't shy away from confrontation; she'd just sooner get physical than start a false rumor. To her friends she is honest, loyal, and a good time to have around if only for her access to more controlled substances like alcohol and cigarettes through her brothers.

Her reputation in school is a bit of a misfit that sticks with the loners. As a junior she's been around long enough that most bullying used on her has worn thin and outside of occasionally getting called out for misbehavior on the PA she is largely invisible to most in the school; including the staff. She and her friends may occasionally wreak havoc; stuffing fetal pigs in a teachers desk, stealing all the school clocks the first day of exams, or even the rare brawl. But she isn't all that unique from hundreds of other Mather's Memorial graduates and is seemingly headed down the same path; a low paying job similar to the rest of her family, no college education and no chance at ever getting out of the state. This realization turned into Erica's greatest fear over the summer and she feels ready to trade in some of her complacency for ambition but worries it's too late.

Tribokinesis: Erica can manipulate the static and kinetic friction of her surroundings. This allows her to remain immovable on any surface, or incredibly fast on others. This ability is limited only to surface's or systems Erica is able to touch, and the affected area is limited but the change is instantaneous whether adding or reducing friction.

Eventually her power may lead to more benefits, such as using kinetic force to create enough energy to generate heat or even small fires. Initially her powers however are more useful for traversal; she can climb any surface with ease 'suctioning' herself to walls or ceilings as she pleases, and escape most any attempt to hold her in place. She is completely unable to alter more than one surface at a time, and must be in constant contact for the duration of the change, which will stop allowing forces to return to their natural state the instant her contact is broken.

Erica's family has been living in Crestwood Hollow for generations. She knows the town's layout as well as anything, and has explored nearly every inch of it since childhood. The Douglas' family tenure with the town however, doesn't translate into wealth or even respect. Aura lives with her father and three elder brothers; Martin, Lewis, and Noah on the northern edge of the city in a small single story house only 15 minutes drive from the lumber yard where both her father and eldest brother work. The remaining two brothers Lewis and Noah work closer to the center of town as mechanics as 'Rolling Right Auto Repair'. The youngest in her family and only one remaining in high school Erica's life is largely unregulated and, typically, she is left up to her own devices.

Erica's mother, well known for being clumsy and slightly air-headed, was placed into a coma resulting from a car accident two years after Erica's birth. The Douglas family held out hope for their matriarch before succumbing to medical bills and pulling the plug a short year and a half later. What was a traumatic experience for most of her family, is barely a memory to Erica, who remembers her mother more as a figure in old stories than a real person. Erica's life, while markedly absent of female influence, was not missing for it. Her hand-me-down boys clothes and devil-may-care attitude that came with being the youngest in a family of men pointedly left her labeled a 'tom-boy' before even middles school. From there onward she was largely invisible to those outside her friend group.

Save for a few minor altercations in freshman year wherein typical girl teasing and backstabbing lead to a physical retribution on Erica's part, there have been few dramatics in her highschool career. There may have been whispers and she was aware that many of the girls laughed at her clothes and hair; but so long as no one said it to her face, Erica never concerned herself. While her grades were well above whatever her brother's had achieved she never distinguished herself much as a student, and didn't participate in extra-curricular activities other that 'shop'; a mechanics program that taught basic repair skills and one of the few places Erica felt any sense of belonging.

After Vanessa's disappearance, Erica came to see her home for what it really was; a backwater town where people like those in her family fell into and remain trapped in. She intends to use this year to make a real effort, namely in school so that she can have a real chance at turning out better than her brothers. At the behest of a desperate English teacher, Erica agreed to join the school's disappointing newspaper club as a photographer for extra-credit.

Outside of school Erica is typically helping out at Rolling Right Auto Repair in the center of town for cash or hanging around the eastern piers, usually with a cigarette in hand.

They were biology lab partners Sophomore year. Their relationship was strained at best. Vanessa had never liked Erica and made no attempt on being anything more than partners. The went to class together, split the report work in half, then complained about each-other to their respective friend groups. Dislike didn't dull the shock of Vanessa's death for Erica though. Instead it made her rethink her own life over the summer, and in an effort to come to terms with her new priorities, she opted to join the counseling offered to those affected by Vanessa's death.

Josh P. Draper || Almost 18 || M

Josh's muscles are perfectly synced with his mind, and his mind is perfectly synced with the world. This manifests as enhanced reflexes, mental processing speed, reaction time, perfect aim, intuitive knowledge of his surroundings, and how he can affect them to his benefit. He can throw a coin into a vending machine from the other side of the cafeteria, shoot the wings off a fly, and—most impressively—do a flip.

Extended to the logical extreme, Joshua could feasibly set up complex chain-reactions to achieve events which seem impossible. Flipping a coin to cause an airplane crash, for example. Surviving a catastrophic car crash with only minor injuries. Breaking the record of the excellent 1983 arcade game Star Wars for the sixth month in a row. That sort of thing.

There are some caveats, of course. First, Josh is seventeen. His powers will not immediately manifest (and may never manifest) to such a degree as mentioned above. Second, his ability to perform degrades under pressure. This has actually worked to his benefit: struggling to show off his incredible power has the added benefit of keeping the G-men off his doorstep.

Josh didn't know Vanessa well, but he did know her older sister Amanda. They had an on-again, off-again relationship of near-mythic proportions, which recently came to a screeching halt due to the tragedy. He tries not to be bitter—it's not about him—but he can't help but wonder if there is some malicious higher power out there, yanking his chain and laughing about it.

Sure, he liked the girl. She'd always been close with Amy; Josh often found himself and Amy playing chaperone and chauffeur until the younger Bordeaux finally got her license. She'd been witty, sometimes even acerbic. And then she was gone, and Josh's chances with the girl he loved along with her.

Josh tries to live his life by a few simple rules. First, treat someone with kindness until they fuck with you or your little brother. Second, it's better to dodge drama if you can. Three, if an answer can be determined using a coin flip or rock-paper-scissors, it should be. He smiles easily, enjoys being around people, and does what he can to help people when they ask. He likes to think of himself as funny, clever, and able to take a joke.

This is balanced by an unhealthy amount of selfishness. Like anyone, Joshua doesn't think of himself as self-centered, but he always manages to turn situations about others into situations about himself. He looks out for himself and his interests before anyone else's, that's all. It's not a bad thing, right? Nobody can hurt him that way. And besides, he cares about his little brother. He'd die for Daniel. He's not selfish, and fuck you for bringing it up.

Amy's brought it to his attention before, and he promises to work on it before eventually lapsing back into his old ways. Such is the power of routine, and cognitive dissonance. If Josh can come to terms with his flaws, and find a way to fix them, he might actually find himself improving. Growing as a person. But that would require a deep dive into the soul, something Josh does everything in his power to avoid.

When Josh was twelve, his mother cheated on his father. An idyllic life of home-cooked meals and summer movies fell apart overnight, and suddenly Josh and his younger brother Daniel were thrust into a war not unlike the trenches of no man's land. Every narcissistic and self-serving impulse in humanity's millennia of evolution came to the forefront of the resulting divorce. Some twisted god turned his loving parents in raving husks of their former selves.

After two years, their godfather, Neil, saved them. After a fight of particular vitriol left Daniel unconscious on the floor, Josh called his godfather in tears. Neil was a lawyer of some renown, coincidentally. After exploding on Josh's father, Neil and his wife took custody of the two boys, bringing them four states over to Crestwood Hollow. Once they had recovered enough to smile, the boys nicknamed that period of their lives the "Terrible Two".

Josh entered high school knowing no one, still shell-shocked from the Terrible Two. A nervous new kid should have been prime target for bullies, but puberty saved him, in more ways than one. First, he got tall, and broad-shouldered. Handsome. People wanted to be around him for that.

Second, he was coordinated. His muscles did what he wanted them to, when he wanted them to. This talent paid off: he ended up on the Crestwood High Football team. After a few years, he'd become one of their star players. Over those years, he also got involved with Amanda Bordeaux, the girl who has captured his heart for two years now.

Daniel, two years behind him, took a slightly different path. He grew tall as well, but took after their slender mother. He wasn't so much into sports, and probably qualified as a nerd. Of course, everyone knew that if you messed with Dan in any way, Josh would come by to fuck you up six ways to Sunday.

Then, the murder. Despite his internal griping at how unfair the situation is for him, Josh instinctively told Amy that he'd do whatever he could to help her, and that he'd catch the son of a bitch who did it. Ignoring the fact that he is only slightly above-average in intelligence, Josh decided that he was Nancy Drew, and has been asking around Vanessa's friends and acquaintances for leads.

Yes, it has been as awkward and ham-fisted as it sounds.

Sound/Air Wave Manipulation: She can take advantage of the endless stream of sounds and images floating in the atmosphere. This ability has several potential uses, like tricking people into hearing something that isn't there, but it is mainly useful in manipulating what is seen and heard on televisions and radios. While she cannot simply project anything she wants onto them anytime she wants, her emotions can interrupt them, and replace them with something else. Depending on the amount of energy and emotion, it can be anything from cutting out the local radio stations to nothing but static when she is very angry to projecting blurry images of her dreams on top of television channels when she is having nightmares. This last bit has happened once before, becoming a sort of campfire tale to the local teens who have no idea it was her...though they exaggerated the horror factor quite a bit.

With little experience using this, it can take a great toll on her whenever it happens, leaving her feeling weak and sick to her stomach. She is unaware of her potential, or even that she is responsible for certain events, only knowing that sometimes electronics act up around her. Trying to purposefully control and direct her ability would require a great amount of concentration, enough to make anyone observing believe she has gone catatonic.

For Vanessa, Gilda was a pity case. She noticed Gilda either ate alone at lunch or would slink away to the library, and decided it was her duty to try and drag her into making friends. That didn't go over so well, leading only to greater heights of embarrassment, but she did appreciate the attempt and came to share lunch with Vanessa every once in awhile. When both were free to do so. They didn't really have a ton in common-- Vanessa wasn't into reading fantasy novels and Gilda wasn't into athletics or attending parties --but they were friendly enough that her death hit differently. Perhaps rather selfishly, she must deal with a sense of 'being alone once again.'

A loner, but not quite by choice, most of her social decisions are driven by that inexplicable fear that causes butterflies to bloom in your stomach and sweat to slick your palms-- social anxiety. She avoids talking as much as possible, never raising her hand in class, never raising her voice in the halls. When she is unfortunate enough to be backed into a corner, it becomes clear she couldn't raise her voice if she wanted to: it is too quiet, and she has a tendency to stutter or trail off when panicked.

A decent student that could be a great student, a lot of the time her head is elsewhere...lost in the clouds. Voraciously consuming fantasy novels and television series has left her with a lot of obscure knowledge but nobody to share it with.

Gilda was born into a right mess of a family. Her parents lost custody at age three, brought up on drug and assault charges, and she was left to the care of her far more sane grandmother. They have come to call the local trailer park "theirs" in the sense that not only does her grandmother own it, but in how they care about its presentation and livability. Ever since she was little, she'd work with her to plant trees and flowers around the trailers, pick up trash, and check up on the residents.

As a teen, her responsibilities increased tenfold. Grandma growing old, Gilda has learned to cook, clean, and even care for medical needs like medication management. She certainly has her share of fears about the situation, but shoulders them bravely as she can.

She has a history of being bullied in middle school that has driven her social anxiety to extremes. The perfect target: dreamy, only child, loner, it was only a matter of time. High school has proven to not be as nearly dog-eat-dog, but her fears haven't left. To avoid even the smallest chances of being picked on, she eats alone, walks alone, hides behind library shelves and the pages of novels. At home, she likes to unload in front of the television with a microwave meal after taking care of her responsibilities.